"The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned." (Maya Angelou)

Wednesday, 29 April 2015

Urban Diary

The grey glass,
like a telly that has been switched off, returns my reflection. The shop’s dark
interior cries out emptiness and oblivion. My hands are shoved deep in my
pockets. Perhaps it is the only position in which to be as I stand in silent
contemplation of this landscape of urban desolation. The sign inviting would-be
entrepreneurs to rent does not reveal the ugly truth: you are the next victim,
not the next Bill Gates. Look around you, every two shops it is a similar
scenario. Vacant lots waiting to swallow their unsuspecting and
ever-so-optimistic prey.

In the words of my favorite historian, Will Durant: "Old regions grow arid, or suffer other change. Resilient man picks up his tools and his arts and moves on, taking his memories with him."

What you describe is the result of free enterprise completion or, if you prefer, survival of the fittest. You have your memories, CiL, and have portrayed them well, but, in a practical sense, it might be time for you to pick up your tools ....

The great and the good of leafy Wiltshire (where I live) have no idea what urban living is like. If they go to the cities they go to museums and theatres, eyes tight shut though the unpleasant bits - as if they might be contaminated by seeing people struggling. So then they can put their big blue posters up in the fields, demanding protection of their estates and their money and their privilege. My rebellious voice is pissing in the wind down here (though that doesn't stop me trying!)

My small area of the Midlands once sported a shopping mall. Actually, it still does, but the changes are so great I find it hard to remember what was there before the empty shop syndrome hit us. It does have a penchant for closing down sales though, which give the place colour. To be fair, more business come in quickly and we're doing well for banks, but those closing down signs still keep the pace. It is most definitely survival of the fittest. Should we be thankful for internet shopping or not?

My favorite book store closed down last week, the owners had the business for 15 years but could no longer make a go of it .. I visited them on their last day open ,it was like I was saying "goodbye' to an old friend.An eloquent write ...thank you!

It is so similar here, CiL...shops closing, people moving away because they can no longer afford to keep up their mortgage payments. It seems to me that Britain is fast becoming an impersonal place. Few people live in a place long enough to make (or keep) friends. It feels so lonely and forlorn...:(

I do sometimes wonder how any small shopkeepers manage to keep going these days. In some places the councils are cutting the business rates to encourage them. They are what makes a place worth visiting.

I understand about competition and survival of the fittest and yet that is what, in my view, has gone with modern capitalism. Investing in capital, reaping the profits, paying what you owe society through taxes, I'm with that. Allowing the big corporations to change the nature, rhythm and flair of a neighbourhood just for a few more bob, no, sorry, brother, count me out. There has to be a limit to greed. Greed destroys the soul of a "barrio".

About Me

Look well to this day for it is life,
the very best of life. In its brief course lie all the realities and truths of existence, the joy of growth, the splendour of action, the glory of power. For yesterday is but a memory and tomorrow is only a vision. But today if well-lived makes every yesterday a memory of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well therefore to this day.
(Ancient Sanskrit Poem)